Following the developer getting acquired by Activision Blizzard to help on World of Warcraft, members of Proletariat formed the Proletariat Workers Alliance with help from the Communication Workers of America (CWA) in response to the studio’s acquisition. Now, in a new blog post, Proletariat leadership announced that they have filed for a union vote through the National Labor Relations Board to formally bring the union into the company instead of voluntarily recognizing it.

Talking about the reasoning behind their decision, the Proletariat leadership said “besides being the fairest option, this also allows employees to get all the information and various points of view. This is an important decision, everyone deserves some time to process it and to be better understand its potential impacts.”

The Proletariat leadership is and has always been pro-worker,” the leadership team said. “In fact, the Proletariat name was inspired by the founders’ dissatisfaction as workers in the industry. They wanted everyone to share in the success and ownership of the studio, and to be treated fairly.”

However, the members of the Proletariat Workers Alliance disagree. They released a statement through CWA. “Everyone deserves a union,” the statement began.

“Our Proletariat leadership and upper management at Activision have refused our requests to talk about neutrality and are forcing us through an NLRB election, even though a supermajority of our bargaining unit have signed union cards, and that is not pro-worker.” 2/

— CODE-CWA (@CODE_CWA) January 10, 2023

“Their actions this week have been right out of the union-busting playbook used by Activision and so many others. Management held a town hall last week which disappointed many of our workers.” 3/

— CODE-CWA (@CODE_CWA) January 10, 2023

“The meeting was inappropriate due to its anti-union influence, and happened to be the same day that @zenimaxworkers announced their recognition – a fair & free union representation election, held under a neutrality agreement that included an option for anonymous voting.” 4/

— CODE-CWA (@CODE_CWA) January 10, 2023

“We can decide for ourselves if we want a union. We don’t need help from management. We need – and deserve – respect and neutrality. We want to do right by our team and collaborate with management without contention.” Read more on @WeArePWA_CWA‘s fight: https://t.co/WA5rETO0lc

— CODE-CWA (@CODE_CWA) January 10, 2023